


Dog Treats

by Slant



Category: Final Fantasy X
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 12:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11600514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slant/pseuds/Slant
Summary: What does he use all those gil for, anyway?





	Dog Treats

You saw all sorts in the shopping district of Bevelle. Humans and Guado and Ronso, O'aka XXIII had seen them all, but there was always someone new. And that was why Bevelle was the greatest city in the world. This chap was a case in point. Nine foot tall, robed and masked, he strolled stately and imposing through the crowds up to O'aka's little stall, and around him Bevelle, city of soaring arches and gorgeous colour looked a little poorer, a little shabbier.

...  
Yojimbo was unconcerned by the city he walked through. He had no duty to these people; their lords had not bothered him. Sword-for-hire that he was, he still had responsibilities to his last and most loyal retainer. Responsibilities that these people and his Summoner's gil would discharge.  
...

The figure produced brush, ink, paper, inkstone, poured water, ground ink, wet brush and wrote a pair of characters. All without haste, without wasted effort, with calm deliberation, and still unbelievably fast. 

"Dog Treats"

There might be better calligraphy in a collection in the temple, some hallowed relic from the world before Sin, but certainly you could not get better done in Bevelle today. The symbols burned into O'aka's memory- not just the meaning, the spare grace of their form, the texture shown as the ink soaked into the parchment. O'aka knew people who would pay well for art like this, even given it's prosaic content. The figure released the parchment, and it blew away;   
O'aka, puffed up a little more than usual with pride at having such a remarkable customer, deflated with regret as it fell from the bridge, and scattered.

...

Yojimbo stowed the four treasures of the study* in their accustomed places. Presently, the merchant would finish babbling and produce his goods.

*"The four jewels of the study: Brush, Ink, Paper, Inkstone" but, of course, my readers know that. 

...

Leashing his eagerness, Yojimbo left the city, imperceptibly swifter than he had entered, walked to the clearing where Daigoro was waiting and knelt to feed him with his own hands. As he did so he praised the dog for his great heart and his other virtues: Patience, loyalty, strength, jaws.

**Author's Note:**

> without regret  
> they fall and scatter…  
> cherry blossoms
> 
> \- Kobayashi Issa  
> translated by David G. Lanoue


End file.
